Assessment of coastal vulnerability to sea level rise: A case study of Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand

Abstract

The coastal zone of Thailand will get the effect from the eustatic sea level rise due to climate change. It is necessary to protect the coastal area from it. Therefore, coastal vulnerability index (CVI) was chosen to be a tool to identify the vulnerability of coastal zone in Prachuap Khiri Khan which is the study area. The physical and socioeconomic variables for CVI in this study were a coastal slope, rate of shoreline changes, geomorphology, signification wave height, tidal range, sea level changes, population density, coastal structure and land use. The CVI values was classified in 5 classes of vulnerabilities in the format of the coastal vulnerability map. The results presented that most of the coastal area in Prachuap Khiri Khan had very low to moderate vulnerability to sea level rise. It can be the preliminary analysis to develop the coastal management for this area in the future.